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NBC Announces Details For Who Do You Think You Are? Season 3

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif.– January 6, 2012– Viewers can take an up-close and personal look inside the family history of some of today’s most beloved and iconic celebrities when NBC’s “Who Do You Think You Are?” returns for its third season on Friday, February 3 (8-9 p.m. ET). The celebrities who star in the series are Martin Sheen, Marisa Tomei, Blair Underwood, Reba McEntire, Rob Lowe, Helen Hunt, Rita Wilson, Edie Falco, Rashida Jones, Jerome Bettis, Jason Sudeikis and Paula Deen.

From executive producers Lisa Kudrow (“Friends,” “Web Therapy”) and Dan Bucatinsky (“Lipstick Jungle,” “The Comeback”) – through their production company Is or Isn’t Entertainment and Shed Media U.S. (“Supernanny,” “The Real Housewives of New York City”) — “Who Do You Think You Are?” is an adaptation of the award-winning hit British television documentary series that leads celebrities on a journey of self-discovery as they unearth their family trees that reveal surprising, inspiring and even tragic stories that often are linked to crucial events in American history.

“We’re very excited about the stories we have this season. This fantastic group of people we have will take us to countries we haven’t visited before which is thrilling and gives us glimpses into crucial details of history that not only shaped their families, but our world,” said executive producers Kudrow and Bucatinsky. “This is what we love about this series; it’s so enriching for us the viewer, as well as the participants and their families.”

From Ireland’s freedom fighters to the American Revolutionary War, and from the African nation of Cameroon to Bulgaria, “Who Do You Think You Are?” will reveal the fabric of humanity through everyone’s place in history. Each week a different celebrity takes a journey into their family’s past, traveling all over the world. While giving viewers an in-depth look into their favorite stars’ family tree, each episode will expose surprising facts and life changing encounters that will unlock people’s emotions, and show just how connected everyone is not only to the past, but to one another.

Ancestry.com continues in its role as NBC and Shed Media’s official partner on the series, helping to provide the exhaustive research used to build each story. “‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ is such a beautiful showcase for the type of discoveries people can make through family history research,” said Josh Hanna, Executive Vice President for Ancestry.com. “We are extremely proud to help produce a program that inspires so many to begin their own journey of discovery and are excited to see it grow more this season.”

“Who Do You Think You Are?” is produced by Shed Media U.S. in association with Is or Isn’t Entertainment. Alex Graham, Kudrow, Bucatinsky, Jennifer O’Connell and Al Edgington are the executive producers. The unique, award-winning series is based on the popular BBC television documentary series from Wall to Wall Productions, created and executive-produced by Graham.

Shed Media U.S. is noted for its strong characters and memorable casting, and produces several popular television shows including: Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of New York City,” “Bethenny Ever After” and “It’s A Brad, Brad World,” Lifetime’s “Supernanny,” VH1’s “Basketball Wives” and TLC’s “All American Muslim.” Is or Isn’t Entertainment has been developing and producing television, features and online content since Kudrow and Bucatinsky formed their partnership in 2003. It is best known for the critically acclaimed, Emmy Award-nominated series “The Comeback,” which made its own comeback on The Sundance Channel in 2011. The company’s critically lauded web-series “Web Therapy,” won the 2010 and 2011 Webby Awards for Best Online Comedy and was just nominated for a 2012 PGA Award.

The series made a ground-breaking web-to-TV move on Showtime this summer with 10 critically acclaimed half-hours triggering a season two pickup for Summer 2012 with an unprecedented line-up of guest stars including Meryl Streep.

Ancestry.com Inc. (Nasdaq: ACOM) is the world’s largest online family history resource, with approximately 1.7 million paying subscribers. More than 7 billion records have been added to the site in the past 15 years. Ancestry users have created more than 29 million family trees containing over 3 billion profiles. In addition to its flagship site www.ancestry.com, Ancestry.com offers localized Web sites designed for nine countries that empower people to discover, preserve and share their family history.

About Thomas MacEntee

What happens when a “tech guy” with a love for history gets laid off during The Great Recession of 2008? You get Thomas MacEntee, a genealogy professional who’s also a blogger, educator, author, social media connector, online community builder and more.
Thomas was laid off after a 25-year career in the information technology field, so he started his own genealogy-related business called High Definition Genealogy. He also created an online community of over 3,000 family history bloggers known as GeneaBloggers. His most recent endeavor, Hack Genealogy, is an attempt to “re-purpose today’s technology for tomorrow’s genealogy.”
Thomas describes himself as a lifelong learner with a background in a multitude of topics who has finally figured out what he does best: teach, inspire, instigate, and serve as a curator and go-to-guy for concept nurturing and inspiration. Thomas is a big believer in success, and that we all succeed when we help each other find success.